Kiwi Hospitality
When mentioning ’’New Zealand’’ the first thing that pops into people’s heads are stunning pictures of breathtaking nature. Of course, the landscape on those islands on the other side of the world is simply amazing. Plus, travelling is very satisfying since you do not have to go much further to encounter totally different and maybe even more stunning surroundings — thanks to the country’s great diversity and (compared to its Aussie neighbour) small size.
However, what the google picture search does not tell you because you can only experience it yourself, is the remarkable kindness and hospitality which is typical for Kiwis ( =New Zealanders; neither the bird, nor the fruit).
While living for six months in the land of the long white cloud, we encountered surprisingly often situations which are rather unlikely to occur in other countries — let us say Germany.
Whenever asking people for the way, they not simply explained us how to get to our destination but walked us there, did a little sight seeing tour or gave us a lift. Over here, not many people would even take the time and hardly anyone would trust a complete stranger inviting you to jump into his car and take you to some place you have never been to. Not in New Zealand. This open-minded and unbiased thinking is what also makes hitch-hiking so easy. In Germany, you are lucky if somebody picks you up after having waited for hours; in Kiwi Land we never waited longer than ten minutes until a friendly driver pulled over and asked us where we wanted to go.
New Zealanders also seem to have a different attitude concerning their own four walls. We would probably only allow our friends to enter our home in our absence. Kiwis do not hesitate offering that to people they have never met before. When we did couchsurfing (people offer travellers some place to sleep not expecting money in return), it was not unusual for our future hosts to tell us that they would be on the move at our arrival but the door would be unlocked and we should make us feel at home. Locked doors are not only in rural or thinly populated areas uncommon, we also encountered that in larger citites such as Queenstown or Christchurch. Fairly unimaginable doing that in a similarly sized European city…
Keen on getting to know the Kiwi way of life, we did a lot of WWOOFing (working on organic farms in exchange for food and accomodation). Staying under one roof with the families was another proof for the great hospitality you get a lot in New Zealand.
With people being so warm-hearted, it is nearly impossible not to fall in love with this country, isn’t it?
